Comments on: Old-growth Pine

By: lastwordsmith

lastwordsmith — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:55:20 +0000

That’s some beautiful old pine. But I can’t think of many modern techniques (not involving hand tools, at least) that I would change in dealing with it. I’d treat it like a hard wood and try making some nice furniture out of it. I’ll bet you can use a card scraper on it.

Every time I try out a new species of wood, I always prepare myself for a big difference in working properties. Of course every different species has its little peculiarities that make it unique. But somehow, I always come out of the experiment thinking to myself, “Yep, that worked like wood.”

Steve
literaryworkshop.wordpress.com

By: Wilbur

Wilbur — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:16:28 +0000

“It’s no wonder some of the woodworking techniques used in the 18th and early 19th centuries wouldn’t go well with lumber we have available today.”

Can you clarify which techniques you are thinking of?

By: billlattpa

billlattpa — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:35:21 +0000

I was fortunate enough to obtain an old floor joist which I used to make the stretchers on my workbench. It was beautifully clear and great to work with. My only issue with old growth lumber is not the wood itself but the lament of it’s loss. It almost seems that the loss of the trees/wood is put on the last generation or two of Americans when in reality those forrests were doomed almost 200 years ago. I have great respect for the intelligence and resourcefulness of the early American settlers but it seems that greed for the plentiful resources that they were given destroyed those forrests. It’s good to see that at least a few in our government have done much to insure that our forrests are well managed and that wood will continue to be plentiful for many years to come..